The present invention relates generally to lift support garment systems and more specifically to lift support garment systems for providing physical assistance to persons with limited or no mobility.
Our average life expectancy is increasing as better nutrition and health care continue to become available. And so, with this increased life expectancy, the population of elderly individuals with limited mobility is rising.
Such elderly individuals might be parents, grandparents and other like family members that more often than not require physical assistance to move or relocate from one location to another. As an example, a grandparent might require assistance to relocate from a living room to the bedroom at bedtime.
Limited mobility is not only associated with elderly persons. Handicapped persons, for example, frequently need assistance getting in and out of a wheelchair. When a caregiver or helper renders assistance to the elderly or handicapped person, the caregiver often grabs an article of regular clothing worn by the person to whom assistance is being rendered.
Such regular clothing articles are sometimes torn when grasped by a caregiver or helper subjecting the elderly or handicapped person to injury. As a result, the caregiver or helper might attempt to support a falling elderly or handicapped person further subjecting the caregiver or helper to injury.
In other instances, if the article of regular clothing does not tear, the clothing might apply localized pressure to those areas of the body being supported during relocation causing either discomfort or injury to the elderly or handicapped person. As an example, when pants worn by an elderly or handicapped person are grasped to lift the individual, the pants might form a wedgie between the buttocks causing pain and discomfort to the buttocks area.
There is a need to address one or more of the foregoing disadvantages of conventional systems and methods, and the present invention meets this need.